On Camera Acting with a Focus on Scene Work from Female Auteurs
begins june 11th // tuesdays 4-7pm // 4 week course: june 11, 18, 25, july 2 // 10-student cap
taught by Jaclyn Bethany.
This course will focus on the complex characters explored in the cinema of female directors Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, Celine Sciamma and Gillian Armstrong. Scene and character work will be pulled from their screenplays. The course will focus on subtlety and simplicity for on camera performance and delving into the psyche of character. On camera audition and performance technique will also be covered alongside character and script work. This class is open to all levels of actors, filmmakers and writers - anyone interested in on-camera performance and understanding the scope of what makes these female filmmakers' characters tick. The class will end with a final showcase of scene work.
Jaclyn Bethany is an actor and Emmy award winning filmmaker. She holds an MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute, an MA in Screenwriting from the London Film School and a BA in Theater Performance from Fordham University. As an actor, she can be seen in lead and supporting roles in numerous indie and studio films. Jaclyn has directed eight feature films and one Emmy award winning digital series The Rehearsal. Her films have played festivals worldwide (Berlinale, Santa Barbara, among others) and have been released by companies such as Giant, Bohemia and Kaleidoscope. Her recent film, Tell that to the Winter Sea (Kaleidoscope UK) featuring an all female cast will play UK and Irish cinemas this spring followed by two feature films, Before the World Set on Fire and The Invisible Girl set to be released this summer. She is in post-production on feature In Transit featuring two time Tony winner, SAG and BAFTA winner Jennifer Ehle and Francois Arnaud, as well as Delusion, a collaboration with Adult Film. She is currently in pre-production on feature film All Five Eyes, co-written and co-starring Greta Bellamacina, which features Honor Swinton-Byrne (A24’s The Souvenir). Jaclyn has worked extensively with theater companies across the US and UK, including Clubbed Thumb, the Arcola, Berkshire Theatre Festival, New York Stage and Film, Invulnerable Nothings, among others - notably co-directing the UK Premiere of The Pussy Grabber Plays. Jaclyn’s work focuses on complex female protagonists, bold re-interpretations of classic texts and queer stories from the female gaze. Additionally, Ms. Bethany is a rising Tennessee Williams scholar, has written and presented research on Williams across the US and UK. She recently co-founded the female driven theatre company The Fire Weeds, which mounted their debut production Outraged Hearts: The Pretty Trap and Interior : Panic by Tennessee Williams with the Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival this year. She is a Professor of Film at Loyola University New Orleans, and is repped by Buchwald NY/LA and Alta Global Media in Los Angeles.